City College baseball took on LA Pierce in the regular season finale for both squads, Thursday, April 24, at Pershing Park.
Both starting pitchers, Noah Villegas (No. 26) of the Vaqueros and Harsa Aditya (No. 7) of the Brahmas, managed to keep batters guessing throughout the game. The two matched each other pitch-for-pitch but Aditya would have the last laugh, as the Brahmas’ high-powered offense was able to get to Villegas in the sixth inning.
Villegas had one of his strongest starts of the season, going seven innings while striking out eight and walking three. Left fielder Connor McManigal had two hits, a stolen base and a run scored but two base running mistakes cost the Vaqueros dearly.
The Brahmas went on to beat the Vaqueros, 3-2, getting all three of their runs in the sixth inning off of Villegas. Cody Van Aken (No. 17) pitched the final two innings, only allowing one base runner to reach.
Right fielder Noeh Martinez (No. 26) had a double, walk, run batted in and made a spectacular catch on a ball hit over his head in the top of the seventh.
The Vaqueros’ (11-9 conference) finished second in the Western State Conference North, three games behind league leader Oxnard. Pierce, with the win and Hancock loss, could earn an at-large bid into the playoffs.
Playoff pairings for the Southern California Regional will be announced Sunday and the top eight teams will host their best-of-three playoff series beginning Friday, May 2.
